sauce
Americannoun
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sauces
plural
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any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.
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stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food.
cranberry sauce.
-
something that adds piquance or zest.
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Informal. sauciness; impertinence; impudence.
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Slang. Usually the sauce hard liquor.
He's on the sauce again.
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Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.
verb (used with object)
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sauces,
present (3rd person singular)
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sauced,
past participle, past
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saucing
present participle
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to dress or prepare with sauce; season.
meat well sauced.
-
to make a sauce of.
Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.
-
to give piquance or zest to.
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to make agreeable or less harsh.
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Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.
noun
-
any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour
-
anything that adds piquancy
-
stewed fruit
-
dialect vegetables eaten with meat
-
informal impudent language or behaviour
verb
-
to prepare (food) with sauce
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to add zest to
-
to make agreeable or less severe
-
informal to be saucy to
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
saucesimple
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saucessimple
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have saucedperfect
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has saucedperfect
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am saucingprogressive
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are saucingprogressive
-
is saucingprogressive
-
have been saucingperfect progressive
-
has been saucingperfect progressive
Past
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saucedsimple
-
had saucedperfect
-
was saucingprogressive
-
were saucingprogressive
-
had been saucingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sauce
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus “salted,” past participle of sallere “to salt,” derivative of sāl “salt”; see also salt 1
Explanation
A sauce is a nearly-liquid or soft topping or condiment for food. You might prefer your spaghetti with tomato sauce and your broccoli with cheese sauce. The cuisine of every country and region has its own sauces, from chutney served with Indian dosas to Hollandaise sauce on eggs Benedict and caramel sauce dolloped on sticky toffee pudding. You can even use sauce as a fancy verb: "Shall I sauce the beef?" Figuratively, to sauce someone is to speak in an impudent or cheeky way.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I pulled off a petal, perfect, crunchy, and dipped it in the sauce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Maybe all of that messy human friction had a point beyond just, say, getting a spaghetti sauce recipe.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026
This is also when I deploy what I lovingly think of as my potions and powders: anchovy, tomato paste, miso, soy sauce, fish sauce, bouillon paste or cubes, mushroom and brown gravy powder.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
“No one quite knows what the special sauce is for getting your project approved.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Even a heavy dose of Tamika’s hot sauce wouldn’t be able to bury the bitter aftertaste.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
They have a great all-you-can-eat menu with really great meats and an assortment of sauces and condiments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Foie gras is his favorite ingredient and a fixture on his menu -- used in his tartare presentation, to mount sauces, as a pate, and even for ice cream.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
“Over the years, McDonald’s has tried multiple iterations for chicken and strips, opting for different seasoning, cuts and sauces, all with little success,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
My pantry is always stocked with: homemade sauces and seasoning blends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Ocean creatures drizzled in sauces or begging to be dipped in spicy concoctions.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Ferrell said later that he was glad to be in the back row because it meant nobody behind him got sauced.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The capers themselves are fried to create a crisp garnish for the sauced asparagus.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
Riding the wave of an obsessive interest in all forms of fried chicken, crispy chicken skins are the base for nachos at pop-ups, and sauced and spiced as appetizers in restaurants.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2022
In their classic form, sloppy Joes are little more than sauced and seasoned ground beef on a bun, and have a decidedly retro comfort-food appeal.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 17, 2022
They roasted apples in the fire, but ate the pasty cold, and hunger sauced it better than the finest cook could have done.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Of this generous, very pretty platter, my only sorrow was an uneven saucing, leaving one side somewhat bereft of the overall excellence.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
Little did she know that I did, and obviously still do, find a deep, personal satisfaction with all things chopping, sauteing, saucing, cooking and roasting.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2023
Ms. Sarikaya laughed and then the two of them discussed whether to blanch noodles before saucing them; Ms. Olsen prefers a quick boil, while Ms. Sarikaya worries that it will leave the noddles too watery.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2017
These vegan Philadelphia chef-restaurateurs are especially adept at seasoning and saucing.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 28, 2016
At this present we have Dan Morgan's fish to fry, and sitting here saucing this devil's mess of a supper with thoughts of private revenge will never fry it.
From The Master of Appleby A Novel Tale Concerning Itself in Part with the Great Struggle in the Two Carolinas; but Chiefly with the Adventures Therein of Two Gentlemen Who Loved One and the Same Lady by Francis Lynde
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